A Cursed Memory
by justanoutlaw
Summary: Jacinda and Henry struggle to figure out how it's possible that he's Lucy's father.


**queenofglassbeliever prompted: S7 canon divergence where the curse hasn't broken and Henry, Jacinda, and Lucy go on that trip they'd been packing for.**

Henry unlocked the door to the cabin and Lucy pushed past the two of them immediately, running up the stairs. A moment later a slamming door could be heard. Henry sighed, turning to Jacinda.

"Are you sure it was a smart idea to come here?" He asked, putting the bags down. "She's upset with me, because I don't believe."

"She'll get over it." Jacinda replied. "She's just held onto this idea that we were fairytale characters for so long. She doesn't even know the truth yet."

Henry let out a little bit of a sigh. "It'd be easy if we knew what the truth was."

Jacinda nodded, still unsure of what to make of everything herself. She had read the papers Henry gave her and they had run a second DNA test through the hospital, just to double check that there hadn't been a mistake. Sure enough, Henry was Lucy's father. It was just that neither of them could remember how it had happened. She was faithful to Nick during that time and he wasn't even in Hyperion Heights.

Henry went to get the bags, but she stopped him. "We'll worry about that later," she said. "How about some wine?" He smiled a bit. "Good."

Kicking off her shoes, she headed into the kitchen, remembering a bottle of Merlot she had see the last time she had been there with Sabine and Lucy. It was small, painted bright yellow with white wicker furniture. The rain had picked back up again and heavily pelted the windows. It looked like they might be spending most of their vacation inside, but Jacinda didn't mind.

As she turned to the wired wine rack, a peculiar bottle stuck out to her. It wasn't red or white, rather brown. Jacinda picked it up and turned it over, realizing it was rum. She ran her hands over the tropical label, her mind suddenly being pulled back to 10 years prior.

_She and Nick had just broken up for the fifth time. Sabine was supposed to take her out to get her mind off things, but ultimately got called into work. So, Jacinda found herself driving past Roni's and outside of Seattle all together. She landed in Port Angeles, a two-hour drive away. The bar was quiet for a Thursday night. After two shots, she ordered a bottle for herself. It was a splurge, but worth it. Headphones in, she blasted the Ramones, ready to get over this breakup. She wasn't going to take Nick back this time, no matter what he said._

"_The Ramones, eh?"_

_Jacinda looked up to find a tall, lanky man with a mess of brown hair standing before her. A crooked smile appeared on his face, his green eyes shimmering under the dim lights._

"_My kind of music."_

_Jacinda pulled out her buds. "You spying on me or something?"_

"_Just so happened to glance at your MP3 player as I walked past."_

"_Mhm…"_

"_The name's Henry by the way." He held out his hand._

_She hesitated, before offering her own. "Jacinda." She looked from the bottle in front of her, to back at him. "You wanna join me?"_

Jacinda let out a gasp as she was pulled out of it. She stumbled backwards out of the kitchen, all of the pieces slowly coming together, or at least the ones she could remember. They had both gotten so plastered that night on the rum, talking about music and their most recent breakups. Jacinda had rented a motel for the night knowing she wouldn't be safe to drive back to the Heights and invited Henry to join her. She didn't remember much after that, but she assumed that was how Lucy was created. She hadn't seen Henry again until Roni's. A few days after their night in Port Angeles, Nick had begged for forgiveness and like an idiot, she had fallen for it. When she found out she was pregnant, she never even considered it to be the random hookup. Jacinda had never told anyone, not Sabine, certainly not Nick. She eventually forgotten all about it.

Until that moment.

Rushing back into the living room, Jacinda ran right into Henry's arms. He held her upright, raising an eyebrow. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"This!" She held up the bottle triumphantly, as if it were a winning lottery ticket.

"A bottle of rum? A bit stronger than wine…"

"No, no. This is how Lucy was conceived."

"I'm even more confused. Neither of us could remember."

"We couldn't, or at least not until now. I just did, when I saw this bottle. This was what I was drinking when you came up to me at that bar in Port Angeles 10 years ago. I was listening to the Ramones, we drank a lot, then we went to my motel room." Henry still looked puzzled. Jacinda sighed. She didn't believe in signs, but if now was ever the time for one, this was it. "Here." She shoved the bottle into his hands.

Henry stood still for a moment, until his eyes began to widen. He slowly looked down at Jacinda with great realization. The bottle slipped from his hands and shattered onto the floor; but he simply stepped over it. He cupped her cheeks, staring into her eyes, that crooked smile reappearing on his lips.

"How could I have forgotten a moment like that?"


End file.
